Time To Tell

Part One

It was out of nowhere on a Sunday afternoon when Sean got the mysterious call from Solomon & Sons Law Firm to be available the following day to litigate what was described as "an inheritance left from a distant benefactor".

Sean would have thought it a scam of sorts had he not known of Solomon & Sons Law Firm for himself. The firm had offered him a full ride science scholarship to a prestigious university to which he had accepted back before he became disillusioned with "the system" and dropped out of school. As brilliant as Sean was he never really took to formal schooling, at least not schooling in the institutional format. Sean was always more of a hands on, trial and error learner for better or for worse.

Pulling into the parking lot of Solomon & Sons Sean was surprised to see the vehicle of his best friend Dallas already at the law firm. Why would Dallas be here, Sean wondered to himself somewhat bewildered.

Walking into the law firm Sean found Dallas in the waiting room who seemed just as surprised to see Sean as Sean was to see him. "Yo what's up man, what you doing here?" Sean asked Dallas as the latter rose to his feet to greet his life long best friend. "Be honest man I'm not really to sure", Dallas replied kind of jokingly, I got a phone call to be here today at this time." "You're kidding?" Sean asked curiously surprised. "Nah, yesterday I got a call from this number and was told to be here at exactly 3:43 P.M. and await further instructions." Dallas explained. Sean had received virtually the same message. "Weird." Sean said as he looked around for some sort of assistance as if the empty space in the building was somehow suppose to sense that the two friends were clueless in the moment and manifest some sort of "helper" to assist them in their confusion.

And almost as if the universe had heard Sean's very thought, there in the far side of the lobby behind a grand desk sat a small man who the two young friends had not seen just moments before.

"Dude where did that guy come from?" Dallas asked Sean bewildered. Sean simply shrugged and approached the desk.

As Sean and Dallas approached the man behind the desk Sean could not help but notice that this rather small man but not to small was smiling at the sight of the two as if he was warmed by their very presence. Sean thought this odd for he had never even been in this strange lobby before let alone laid eyes on this strange man who still hasn't even said a single word.

"Um excuse me, we received notification to be here at this time." "Do we just wait here or..?" Sean asked the man behind the desk. The man continued to smile warmly for a moment before finally replying, "Yes sir, Mr. Solomon is expecting you both. "Right this way please". The man gestured to the nearby elevator and escorted Sean and Dallas inside. The duo exchanged semi-confounded looks as they hesitantly followed this strange little man into the elevator. And if the strange little man behind the desk wasn't enough, as soon as Dallas and Sean stepped into the elevator they were immediately further bewildered.

The elevator was full of strange buttons and strange directions that certain buttons could take you. Sean never being one to shy away from a question asked, "Whoa, what kind of weird ass elevator is this?" The strange man from behind the front desk simply said, "I'm not permitted to explain that to you right now." "I'm currently only to bring you both to floor 88, room 702. Floor 88? Sean thought to himself. There's no way this place has 88 floors, there's something really weird going on here.

Ding! The elevator doors opened to reveal a long hallway that looked like something out of a 1970's corporate office building, just kind of boring and dull really which was odd considering it was the year 2024 and the outside of this building was modern and grand in spectacle.

The man walked out of the elevator and the two young men followed after. As they walked down the hall the sounds of typing of something could be heard whether it was typewriter typing or keyboard typing the source could not be determined. The doors had windows on them but it was that kind of glass that you really cant see through all that well. The only thing truly visible on the doors were numbers. What Sean and Dallas noticed as they followed after their guide was that these rooms were not in any kind of numerical order. Least not any order that the pair could immediately make out.

"Here we are." said the strange little man from behind the strange little side desk. The friends found themselves before a door that looked similar to all the rest in that mundane hallway expect this particular door had a big black and bold 702 on it while the other doors had different numbers on them.

"You may proceed when ready." said the man as he gestured forward. "Thanks." the two said to the man as the walked through the door. And as they walked Sean could not help but notice that the man had that same smile on his face as he did as they walked up to his side desk in the front lobby. Strange fella but I get good vibes, Sean thought to himself as he followed after Dallas into the room.

Finally they were going to see what all this was about. The room was grand and nice, nothing to out of the ordinary save the numerous unique items decorated throughout the office. There were far to many things to take in at first glance and most of the duo's attention was diverted to just behind the desk for there, with his back turned to them, stood a man.

The man, turned to face Sean and Dallas as the two made there way into the desk area of the office. The man was average height but lean, very handsome with a mildly tan complexion.

The man greeted the pair with a warm smile. "So pleased you both could make it, welcome welcome! Please sit, and hear me when I sincerely say please make yourselves at home. You two are most welcome here." the man said as he almost skipped from offering his hospitality. At the hearing of that last part Sean and Dallas exchanged a puzzled glance.

"Please allow me to get you two something to drink before we get into it. Sweet tea for you I believe Sean and alkaline water for you Dallas"? asked the mysterious man. Sean noticed the man slightly smiled as he asked his question, Sean could tell the man was gauging the duo's reaction but he couldn't understand as to why.

"How'd you know I only drink alkaline water?" Dallas asked somewhat perplexed. "Alas, I know quite a bit about you gentlemen." replied the man rather eccentrically. "But fret not, as confused as you two must be I assure you that you will have the beginning of your current answers right here." said the man while gesturing to a rather large but not incredibly large box that was sitting on top the man's desk that strangely neither Sean nor Dallas seemed to notice before the man gestured to it.

"Oh, please forgive me!", the man suddenly exclaimed, "My name is Richard Solomon, I'm one of the 'sons' in 'Solomon and Sons', I always forget to introduce myself." Richard laughingly said. Sean and Dallas both gave a generic "nice to meet you" as the questions were continuing to pile on and the two had yet to get any answers.

"Gentlemen, I have been left instructions regarding the will and testament of an anonymous benefactor naming you two as inheritors of a precious item." Richard explained, "Well items technically."

Sean and Dallas were at a loss, things like this never really happened to them. They didn't receive "inheritances", but nevertheless they continued to listen with earnest.

Richard continued, "First and foremost, here are letters addressed to each of you from the benefactor. Richard handed Sean and Dallas a letter respectively. The letters were sealed in an old timey envelope with purple wax, with an unfamiliar symbol stamped into the pour.

"As I understand these letters are coded in such a way that one would need a key word or phrase of some kind to properly "read" them." Richard explained, "I unfortunately do not posses nor know either key word nor phrase for either of your letters and I do apologize. "I do however believe the introductions are in laymen's terms, so at least your odyssey can begin with somewhat of instruction." said Richard jokingly and rather amused with himself.

So far for both Sean and Dallas things have only gotten weirder now they both have strange mysterious wax sealed coded letters. As cool and awesome as Sean thought the letters were (for Sean absolutely loved old timey stuff, especially vintage stationary kits) they no better explained anything about what all this was about then when he and Dallas sat down to meet with this absolute stranger and begin to unravel this enigma.

"There is also $20,000 in what the Will says is money for your initial supplies and also this", Richard pulled out a small little black notebook and placed it on the desk in front of Dallas and Sean. "What is it?" Sean asked. Richard took a moment, looked at both of the young men and said, "I honestly do not know, but I trust it will reveal it's mysteries to you both as you both work to unravel them."

"Oh my word, is that the present time!?" I'm so sorry gentlemen I got caught up in all the excitement of meeting you both that I completely forgot about a very important engagement I'm due to...well lets just say can't afford to miss it." Richard said somewhat jokingly while stumbling over his words.

"I do hope to see you both again one day" Richard said as the duo was led to the door.

Sean could not help but feel a strange sense of eeriness come over him as this Richard Solomon said his goodbyes. It felt not like danger but that this Richard knew more then he was letting on. It was all very strange, this man, strange letters, out of nowhere cash. First things first, Sean knew he and Dallas needed to get back to what they called "safe zones" (designated places where the two could let their guard down and process things and or situations), once in a safe zone the two could assess and work out all that had just happened to them.

Part Two

"Man I can't believe this." Sean said still in disbelief. Him and Dallas had been pouring over the little black notebook they received, it took was coded in many sections. Yet still the introduction was not, and what it contained forever altered the course of both Sean and Dallas' lives.

In the beginnings of the little black notebook was a note:

Greetings brothers, as of now you will both no doubt have a lot of questions and I will only be able to offer answers to only a few of them. You'll have noticed by now that the majority of this manual is coded, that is by design and it is for your safety. As you both go about your respective journeys you will develop a deeper understanding of paths you're about to walk and you will learn the key phrases for certain sections of the book. But you will only come across them as you can handle them, trust me on this. As I said before I will only have some answers for you as your path will be similar to mine but not the same. When you are ready we'll meet face to face. I'm pretty sure I'll know where you'll be...Sincerely yours, Frog Man

"Oh my God." Sean said in almost utter disbelief. "What, what is it?" Dallas asked. "It can't be." Sean said to himself not hearing Dallas. "Dude what is it? Dallas asked again earnestly.

Sean flipped through the notebook to a certain non coded section. Sean's face was fixed intently on the schematics and notes surrounding. His face had the expression of sheer disbelief and amazement. He was utterly bewildered.

"It makes sense." Sean said still talking to himself. "Dude do you know what this is?" Sean asked Dallas holding up the notebook as to show the drawing therein. Dallas looked at what appeared to be an advanced schematic with mathematical and scientific equations around it. "No, what is it?" Dallas replied.

"It's a schematic for a temporal displacement device!" Sean exclaimed.

"What?" Dallas asked perplexed. "A frickin' time machine bro!"

Dallas just stood there and looked at Sean confused. He knew his best friend inside and out but what the hell was he talking about now. Dallas could see that Sean was not joking and given the afternoon they had Dallas could buy that something weird was going on but time travel?

"Dude hear me out, this note in the front of the notebook it's signed by "Frog Man"." Sean explained. "Yeah so?" Dallas asked. "So, that's a code name I gave myself years ago when I first theorized my hypothesis for temporal displacement!" I thought it up in case I ever cracked the space-time continuum equation. I'm the only one who knows that code name, I thought it up in case I ever left evidence to myself I would know it was legit. Sean continued to explain.

Dallas took a moment to process all this. "So you're telling me that YOU wrote this notebook and left it to us?" Dallas asked still confused. "Apparently so." Sean answered. "Why not just come meet us in person and explain everything?" Dallas asked. "I'm not to sure just yet", Sean answered honestly. "Knowing me I probably didn't want to rob us of our own experience." Sean continued "I don't know man, I can't even think straight, my mind is like all over the place."

"One thing I do know, we're going to need every bit of that $20,000 to build the facility, well small metal shop really, that we're going to need to put together the machine."

"You mean that $20,000 isn't for parts and stuff?" Dallas asked "No." Sean replied. "That's just going to get us the building we'll need that'll act as a sort of headquarters for us. But the actual financing of the project itself is going to come from other sources." "Where?" Dallas asked. "Sources." Sean said as he held up the little black notebook. Dallas understood his gesture.

3 MONTHS LATER

Part Three

It was the night before the first major manned mission experiment and Sean was restless. The lab was a mess, with notes and drawings and half eaten food everywhere. "You should rest bro, everything's gunna go fine. All the other tests went fine." As true as Sean knew that was, sending a human body is very different then sending inanimate objects a few days back. The equations were so very different, body mass, space displacement, factors not even known come in to play. Sean understood the dangers and ran the numbers again for the umpteenth time.

Despite his best efforts Sean knew that Dallas was right and there wasn't much more he could do. "Yeah I guess you're right man." Sean admitted tiredly "I'm just anxious, and don't want anything crazy to happen." "Bro we're messing with time travel based off instructions we got out of a book we still can't fully read from a "future you" we've never met." Dallas said "We already in the realm of crazy." Dallas continued jokingly. Sean laughed at this truth for Dallas was right, the two had long crossed the threshold of crazy and were now bordering the realm of insanity. Still though neither one of them were about to turn back now, not this close.

"Alright then, go get some sleep and tomorrow...it's time. Sean said intentionally dramatic (as he had a thing for the theatrics). "Are we going to have to hear all those time travel allegorical jokes for this whole adventure?" Dallas asked. "I'll try to hold back on those." Sean said jokingly. "Night man" Sean said. "Night brother." Dallas replied

That night as Sean lay passed out in front of all his notes suddenly he was woken up by a loud zap sound accompanied by a bright flash. "Ahhh!" Sean screamed as he leapt from his chair shielding his eyes as he crashed to the ground.

As the instantaneous pandemonium began to fade Sean's eyesight began to return and as it did he was able to make out a figure standing before him. The figure was blurry at first but then became clear.

Sean's eyes instantaneously widened for the figure standing before him was a well worn, much older, battle hardened (from the look of it) version of Dallas.

Sean was in utter disbelief and could not speak any words whatsoever. "Boy do I have some things to tell you brother..."

To Be Continued...